Fresh fruit brusher



- Nov. 16, 1937. G. c PjAXTON v 2 099 2 I I I FRESH FRUIT BRUSHER Filed March 25, 1936 i Patented Nov. 16, 1931 PATENT OFFICE FRESH FRUIT BRUSHER Gerald G. Paxton, Santa Ana, Calif., assignor, by

mesne assignments, to Food Machinery Corporation, a corporation of Delaware g Y Application March 23, 1936, Serial No. 70.494

7 Claims. (Cl. 146-202) a invention relates to devices for conveying 'rollable articles and has particularly, utility in devices of this nature in which such articles receive a treatment through contact of the articles with the conveying surfaces of such devices.

During the past decade, transversezroller conveyors have come into wide use in handling citrus fruits, and particularly oranges, incidental .to accomplishing a treatment on the fruit such as washing, drying, or polishing the fruit. In most of these conveyors the rollers constitute cylindrical brushes and the various treatments areefl'ected in part at least by the brushing action of these brushes upon the fruit.

My invention has todo with such conveyors and, being particularly useful in atransverse fruit brusher, will be described herein asembodied in such a device. 1

7 One of the principal objects of my invention is to increase the emciency of the treatment of rollable articles such asor'anges in a transverse brusher or the like by causing a forcible and intimate contact between the treating surface on the rollers and the articles being treated. As

' the like which will handle fruit very gently while the latter is being treated thereby.

In transverse fruit brushers each adjacent pair of brushes forms a valley in which. fruit rests and is rotated until dislodged from this valley by the flow of fruit through the machine or by a mechanical cleanout device of some kind., While resting on the rollers forming these valleys, this fruit is constantly being rotated by these rollers.

The customary practice has been to prevent fruit moving laterally from out of each of these valleys by the'provision of aprons along the sides of the brusher, which aprons form end walls for the fruit treating valleys. I have found, however, that in some cases injury tothe fruit being handled is caused by fruit being crowded against one of these aprons while the fruit is being rotated by the rollers.

It is accordingly a further object of my invention to prevent contact of'thev fruit with the side aprons in a transverse brusher or the like while the fruit is passing through the same.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a transverse fruit brusher or the like in which contact is assured between the brush rollers and all portions of the exterior surface of thefruit being treated thereby.

The manner of accomplishing the foregoing objects, as well as further objects and advantages, will be made manifest in the following description taken in connection withthe accompanying drawing, in which: i V

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a preferred embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on line 1-2 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on lined-3 in Fig. 2. v

Fig.4 is a diagrammatic view of a modified form of brush roller which might be used in my invention.

Referring specifically to the drawing, the preferred embodiment of the inventionshown therein comprises a transverse fruit brusher III. This brusher has a rigid frame structure ll including legs l2 and i3, thelatter supporting longitudinal tubes I4 and in clamps l6 and II, the lower halves of which are formedintegral with the upper ends of legs I! and ii. The upper halves of the clamps l6 have idle shaft brackets l9 and wall supporting arms 20.. Removably supported in each of the brackets i9 is an idle roller shaft 2!. The upper half of the clamps l'l comprises a series of gear housings 25 in which are journaled roller drive shafts 26. Journaled in the pipe I! is a main drive shaft 21 and suitable gears enclosed by thepipe l5 and the housings 25 connect the main drive shaft 21 with the roller drive shafts 26. The housings 25 have sidewall supporting arms 28.

Rigidly supported on thearms and 28 are side walls 30 having aprons 3| mounted on their inner faces, said aprons extending inwardly and downwardly as clearly shown in Fig. 3. Supported between the walls 30 at their opposite ends are drop boards 33 and 34 for feeding the fruit respectively into and from the machine. The shaft 21 is provided with a triple pulley 38 which is connected by belts 39 to drive pulley (not shown) of an electric motor or other suitable source of power. The idle roller shafts 2| and driveshafts 26 are respectively in alignment with each other as shown in Fig. 1 and supported on each aligned pair of these shafts is one of a series of parallel brush rollers ll. While various treatments may be given rollable objects by rollers which do not have a brushing surface the rollers in thebrusher III are formed with an interior core 4! having metal ferrules l2 and 43 at its opposite ends and having its outer surface formed entirely of bristles 44. The bristles H at the endmost extremities of .each of the rollers 0 are provided with a flange 45 which is greater in the fruit handled in the machine. It is preferable that the brushes 40 be so grooved as'to provide three different types of brushes which will hereafter be identified by the letters A, B and 0. Each of the brushes A has aseries of annular grooves there being a plane space 5| provided at each end of the brush which is between the endmost groove and the adjacent flange 45 of the brush which space 5! is wider than any of the spaces 52 disposed between adjacent grooves 5c Y iirushes B have single'or double pitched spiral grooves 55 formed in the surface'thereof substantially throughout its length. These grooves, however, terminate inside of the flanges 45 of the brush B. a

The brushes C are like the brushes B excepting that they preferably have a single or double pitched spiral groove 56 which is pitched in the opposite direction from that of the groove 55 of the brushes B;

j Operation The brusher in may be operated with or without a clean-out and acne such'device is'herein illustrated itsoperation without such a device will'now be explained.

The shaft 21 is rotated by'some suitable source of power (not shown) connected with the belt39 so as to cause a. rotationof the rollers 40 at a rate preferably somewhere between 50* R. P. M. and 250 R. P. M." The direction of rotation of the brushes 40 is as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2.

While other arrangementsof the brushes may be made it is preferable that they be arranged as indicated-lung. l; that is, with every other brush 4|! of type A and with a brush 0 disposed onone side of each of thebrushes Aanda brush B on theopposite' side of that brush A. Vvith the brushes rotating as indicate'dflfruit such as oranges or the like will be fed into'th'e machine over the drop board'33 so as to fill successivelythe valleys between adjacent brushes 40 and then new through the machine and out over the drop board 34. 9

While resting in each of the valleys 50 the fruit is supported by'one of the brushes"). and one of the brushes B or 6.. Owing to the fact thatthe grooves 50 in th'e'brush A are annular the fruit tendsto drop intothese grooves and be spun therein by the rotation of the two brushes 40 on which it rests. While thus'spinning, how'- ever, the fruit is engaged by the threadalike ridges disposed'between adjacent turns of the groove 55 or 55,'as the case may be, so as to turn the fruit-also about a more or less verticalaxis. Thi's prevents the fruits spinning about a horizontal axis for any substantial period with the fruit in the same position. The cooperationbf the'annular grooves 50 and the spiral grooves 55 and 55, therefore, results in a thorough "treatment of all portions of the surface of'the fruit, with in the valleys 50. Any tendency which there might be of the spiral grooves 55 or 56 to cause a lateral movement of the fruit in the machine is offset .by pitching these spiral grooves in opposite directions.

Fig. 4 illustrates a modified form of a brush roller D which might be substituted for both of the brushes B and C. The brush roller D, while otherwise likethe other brushes 4 0,- has a series of elliptical grooves 10 each of which iscontinuous in itself and extends entirely around the brush D; In other words, the only difference between the grooves 10 in the brushes B and the grooves 50 inbrush A is that the grooves II! are formed in planes disposed obliquely to the axis of the brush roller D. The brushes in a transverse fruit brusher have, previous to my invention, been supplied with 'grooves for turning the fruit to prevent its being spunabout a single axis for too long a period of time, and thus insure all portions of the outer surface of "the fruit being contacted by the brushes. These prior art devices, however, either tended to-bobthe fruit up and down and keep it out of contact with the brushes for a large portion of the-time orelse they' tended to cause the fruit to migrate rapidlyin each of the valleys betweenadjacent brushes either towards one side of themachine or the other. I have'observed that when the fruit bobs up and down considerably, as is the case where adjacent brushes are provided with oppositely pitched spiral grooves, a' low degree of emciency in the brushing action results; ou the'oth'er hand where one of the brushes forming a given valley is spirally grooved and the other is plain as in the Lister Patent'No. 1,566,611, theresulting migration of fruit in this valley-in the direction in which said spiral groove is pitched sets up a crowding of the fruit against I the guard apron on that side of the machine whichchafes the rinds of pieces of fruit-directly 'onthe brushes, yet I have utilized these threads to insure rapidchan ges in the axes about-which the fruit is 'rotated by'the' brushesupon which it rests.-

'A'iu'rther novel result of my invention is the very considerable increase in brushing efllciency which is effected by the same means I have provided for combatting the drifting'of the fruit successively towards opposite sides of the machine. This increase in brushing efficiency arises from the fact that the brushes A are provided with surfaces of rotation which embrace large arcuate areas of each piece of fruit disposed opposite one of the grooves 50 thereof. These annular grooves thus not only contribute to the invention an important retarding function but also are responsible for a substantial increase in brushing eificiency.

The retarding effect of brushes A on the tendency' of thefruit to be propelled laterally by the threaded brushes is such that with the alternating of the pitch of the threa'dson brushes '3 and C' the lateral'migration of the fruit is practically nullified. As a result there is no tendency of the fruit to pile up as previously at the ends of the valleys towards 'whichthe thread of one of the brushes forming said valley is pitched.

; greases 3 As my invention'contemplates the achieve ementtof. .this'pincreased, efiiciency while; at? the,

sarne; time practically eliminating the? contact" of v the ;f;r,uit-with1the {guard aprons 31;:1- have. coma, bined thegretarding effect of the. annular grooves fill of brushesj-Ai zwith the brush end flanges,

V which; are embodied in the brush fibers them- Q selyesat the opposite ends of all the brushes in the machine so that iruit goes entirely through the machine with only an occasional contact of apiece of fruit with oneof theguard aprons 3|.

What I claim is:

1. In a machine for treating'fresh whole fruits,

the combination. of: aseries of parallel brush rollers placed close together and rotatively mounted on fixed axes disposed transversely-oi the direction of travel ofv saidfrultover said brush rollers to provide a fruit treating table having fruit treating valleys between adjacent .20;

pairs of brushrollers, said fruit resting in said valleys and being rotated andbrushed by said R; P. M. and 275 R. P. M., certain pairs of adja-' cent brush rollers having one brush 'rollerof each [such pair provided with a series of annular provided with obliquely disposed grooves.

2. In a machine for treating fresh "wholefruits, the combination of: a series of parallel brush "rollers placed close together and rotatively mounted on fixed axes disposed transversely of the direction of travel of said fruit over"said brush'rollers to provide a fruit treating table having'fruit treating valleys between adjacent pairs ofbrush rollersysaid fruit resting in said valleys and being rotated and brushed by said brush rollers, and progressing, from valley to valley in passing through said machine; and means for rotating said brush rollers in the same f grooves of such size as" to accommodate said .iruit and the other brush roller of each such M direction at a speed substantially between 100 45 R. P. M.'and 275 R. P. M..-certainpairs oiadjacentbrush rollers having one-,brush roller of each suchpair provided with axseriesoi annular pair provided with helically disposed grooves.

the .c'ojmbination'of: a series of parallel brush .rolle'rsplacedfl close-together and rotatively rollers placed 'close'together and 'rotatively' mounted on fixed axes disposed transversely of the direction of travel of said. fruit over said brush rollers to providea fruitftreating .umounted ongfixed axes disposed transversely of the direction of travel o f said fruit over said brush rollers to provide a'fruit treating tablehaving I fruit treating valleys between adjacent pairs of brush rollers, said fruit restinginsaid valleys and-being rotated'and brushed by said brush rollers, and progressing from valley to valleyin passing through saidImachin'e; and. means for "rotating said brushrollers in the same direction ata speed substantially between 100 R. P. M.

l and 275 RP. M.,alternate-brush rollers in said :85

the annularly grooved brush rollers having obliquely disposed grooves formed therein. 1

4. In a machine for treating fresh whole fruits, the combination" of} a series of parallel brush t ble adjacentwpairs of; brushmrollers, saidq fruit resting in said valleys and being rotated fian'd having fruit treating valleys between brushed; by said brush "rollers, and; progressing from; valley :to, valley in passing through said amachinmiqandmeans ,for: rotating said brush I wrollers in thesamedirection a'tfa speed substanalternate brush rollers insaid-machine being providedwith a series of annular grooves ofsuch size as to accommodate said fruit, and those brush rollers disposedln between the annularl'y helically disposed f the combination of: a series of parallel brush rollers placed close together and rotativelyn mounted onfixe'd axes'di'sposed transversely of the direction of travel of said fruit over said brush .rollers to provide a fruit treating table having fruit treating valleys between adjacent,

means, for rotating said brush .rollersin the same direction ata speed substantially between v 100 R. P. M. and 275 R. P. M., alternate brush "rollers in said machine being provided with a series of annular grooves of such size as to 9.0-

commodate saidiruit. and those brush rollers disposed in between the annularly grooved brush rollers having-v helically disposed grooves formed therein, the grooves of alternate helically grooved 'brushrollers being oppositely pitched.

3 6. In a machine for treating fresh whole fruits,

jthe combination of: a seriesof parallel brush rollers placed close, together and rotatively mounted on fixed axesv disposeditransversely of the direction of travel of said fruit oversaid ,brush rollers to provide :a fruit treating table brush rollers, and progressing fromvalleyto 3. .In a machine-for reatingiresh whole fruitsr' tam of said brush rollers having grooves helically having' fruit treating valleys betweenv adjacent pairszof brush rollers, said fruit resting in said I valleys and being rotated and brushed by. said valley, in passing through said machine; means" for rotating said brush rollers in thesame direction; aprons for conflningthe fruition said brush rollers along opposite sides of said'machine, oerformed therein, said grooves tending to act upon the fruitfresting uponand rotated by'said brushrollers to'cause said fruit to migrate laterally of said machine against one of said aprons; and

7. Ina machine for treating fresh whole fruits,

flexible flanges formed upon'end portions of said Y and operatingjto decrease the lateral pressure of fruit against 'saidside aprons caused by the aioresaid migration.

the combination of: a series of parallel brush] rollers placed close together and rotatively mounted on fixed axes disposed transversely-of the direction of travel of saida-fruit .oversaid j brush rollers to provide a fruit treating table havingiruit treating lvalleys between adjacent valleys and being rotated and'brushed by said valley in passing through, said machine; means for rotatingsaictbrush rollers in the same di-.-

rcction; aprons for confiningzthe fruit on said;

brush rollersalong. opposite sides of said 'ma material of said brush rollers, said flanges being of greater diameter than the balance of said brush rollers and operating to'decrease the lateral pressure of fruit against said side aprons caused by the aforesaid migration.

GERALD C; PAXTON. 

